How to Define Cellular Respiration

As a student who studies biology, you should understand that all cells require enough energy to survive, just like you need it to get through each day. What is cellular respiration ? If you see this question in your academic assignments, learn that it’s the process by which all cells get the necessary energy that comes as ATP. Basically, it has two types, anaerobic and aerobic, where the latter one is more effective and can be used if oxygen is present, while the other one doesn’t require any oxygen. There are many cells and organisms that use aerobic cellular respiration primarily, and they can use its other type to survive too when their oxygen supply is limited. Keep in mind that some organisms always require the anaerobic type, while others require the aerobic one. If you have any complications with this subject, don’t hesitate to contact credible and experienced freelancers. They are ready to solve all of your problems, including a business plan, their packages are quite affordable, and their contacts are easy to get online.

It’s a set of specific metabolic processes and reactions that occur in organisms and their cells to convert the necessary biochemical energy from different nutrients into ATP and release waste products. These reactions are catabolic, and this means that they break all large molecules into the smaller ones, thus releasing the energy required by cells because weak bonds are replaced with the stronger one to fuel important cellular activities. You should realize that cellular respiration is one of the most fundamental ways used by cells to release the necessary chemical energy and fuel their activity. Besides, it’s considered as the exothermic redox reaction that releases a lot of heat. Don’t forget that there are many biochemical steps involved in the overall reaction, and most of them are redox. Technically, it’s a combustion reaction that is not similar to the one that happens in living cells due to the slow release of energy from a set of basic reactions. Take it into consideration when it comes to your writing an informative essay on this subject. The nutrients used by cells during this process include fatty acids, amino acids, sugar, and O2 (the most important oxidizing agent). Think about the chemical energy that is stored in ATP because it’s used to fuel those processes that require a lot of energy, such as transporting molecules, biosynthesis, and so on.

Basic Information about Anaerobic Cellular Respiration

For both types of respiration, the first step is glycolysis that involves taking 1 sugar or glucose molecule to break it into 2 ATP. The second step involved in this reaction is fermentation, which starts with the final product of glycolysis. However, everything depends on specific organisms because it can be either fermented into lactate or ethanol. Another interesting detail is that this reaction releases CO2, but it doesn’t make ATP (it can be produced only during the first step). As you already know, glycolysis can produce 2 ATP, and this means that anaerobic cellular respiration yields the same amount for each glucose molecule. Both reactions happen within the cytoplasm of cells, just like the entire process.

Remember that fermentation is the process used by people to produce different types of alcohol, including wine. This is how yeast breaks down glucose in a grape juice and converts it into pyruvate, which is then fermented into alcohol or ethanol. CO2 is released during anaerobic reactions, and that’s why you can see bubbles in champagne and wine. It’s obvious that other bacteria and organisms can use this method, but yeast is necessary to make wine, like other cells ferment pyruvate into lactate or lactic acid. For example, your muscles hurt after hard workouts as you have its excess build, and it happens because of anaerobic cellular respiration. When you exercise, the necessary oxygen supply to muscles is limited, and when it’s low, cells start using this reaction to ferment pyruvate into lactate. When you rest, your body starts eliminating lactate so that your muscles stop hurting. When you don’t exercise, your muscle cells use aerobic respiration because oxygen levels are quite high.

What Aerobic Cellular Respiration Is All About

As a good student, you should learn that it’s a process used by cells to break down food and turn it into the biochemical energy necessary to complete important life functions, and it requires enough oxygen to create ATP. Although proteins, fats, and carbs can be consumed as reactants, this type of cellular respiration is the best method of breaking down pyruvate in glycolysis. Take into account that it requires entering pyruvate into mitochondria to become fully oxidized during the Krebs cycle. The products of this reaction include water and carbon dioxide, and the energy is used to break strong bonds and form ATP (most of it is produced by the reaction called oxidative phosphorylation). It’s true that this metabolism is more efficient than anaerobic metabolism, but some anaerobic organisms, including methanogens, can use the latter one to yield more ATP by using specific inorganic molecules instead of oxygen.

The Main Stages Involved in Aerobic Cellular Respiration

The entire process is used by your cells to get the energy necessary to perform important life functions. All living organisms are made of cells that all require energy, and this means that cellular respiration is vital. During its aerobic type, there is enough oxygen, and this is what results in releasing a lot of biochemical energy. The anaerobic type lacks it, but it also produces some energy (in smaller amounts).

The process starts with breaking down food molecules from sugar to ATP, which is called the important energy currency of all cells. ATP works by storing energy in strong bonds so that cells can get it by breaking those bonds, thus removing phosphate groups and producing ADP (that is easy to reconvert into ATP). At the end of anaerobic cellular respiration, there are 2 ATP molecules produced, but the other type results in forming up to 38 molecules.

Aerobic respiration mostly happens in eukaryotic cells (including mitochondria) because they contain organelles (small organs with their specific tasks) and nucleus (the brain). You should understand that this process included a few steps that allow cells break down food into the energy that can be used for different purposes. The key stages involved in aerobic cellular respiration are glycolysis, citric acid cycle, and electron transport chain.

The Fundamentals of Glycolysis

Literally, this term means splitting sugars because the molecules of glucose are split into three carbon sugar. This reaction happens in the cytoplasm of living cells, this producing 2 ATP, 2 pyruvic acid, and 2 HADH or electron carrying molecules. It’s worth mentioning that glycolysis can take place both with and without the presence of oxygen, but if it’s present, this reaction is the first stage of aerobic cellular respiration. If there is no oxygen, glycolysis still enables cells to produce the smaller amounts of ATP, and this reaction is known as fermentation.

The second stage involved in the entire process is the so-called citric acid cycle (or the Krebs cycle), and it starts once 2 molecules of ATP produced after glycolysis are converted into acetyl CoA (a bit different chemical compound). If this subject seems confusing to you, it’s advisable to get some help from qualified freelancers who offer the highest-quality dissertation editing services.

Through a set of specific steps, a few compounds that can store those high-energy electrons are produced in addition to ATP molecules. They include FAD and NAD and must be reduced during this reaction to be able to carry the necessary electrons to the further stage. This reaction is possible only when enough oxygen is present, but you need to remember that it doesn’t use oxygen directly.

The next stage involved in aerobic cellular respiration is oxidative phosphorylation or electron transporting. One of the main things that you should learn is that any electron transport chain is a set of special electron carriers in eukaryotic cells. This is how high-energy electrons are passed into oxygen though few biochemical reactions, this forming a gradient and producing ATP by oxidative phosphorylation. Don’t forget that enzyme ATP synthases use the energy obtained during this stage of aerobic cellular respiration to phosphorylate ADP into ATP.

Anaerobic vs. Aerobic Reactions

All living organisms require a regular energy supply to keep cells functioning properly and remain healthy. Pay attention to some of them called autotrophs because they can produce their unique energy from sunlight through photosynthesis, while others, including people, must eat enough food to produce the same energy. If you have difficulties with this topic, think about using the best college paper writing service.

What are those molecules that are used by cells to function? It’s all about ATP, and this means that cells need to have some effective method to take the energy stored in food to transport it into the ATP necessary for their proper functioning. Remember that the process that they undergo to complete this important transformation is called cellular respiration, which can be anaerobic (without oxygen) or aerobic (with oxygen). The choice made by cells to produce enough ATP depends on whether there are enough oxygen molecules present for this biochemical reaction to take place. If not, they choose its anaerobic type and other similar processes, like fermentation.

Oxygen is necessary to boost the amount of ATP produced during cellular respiration. All eukaryotic species evolve over time, as this is how they become more complex (have more body parts and organs). That’s why they need to create as much ATP as they can for these innovations to run properly. Feel free to use these facts when dealing with your writing a profile essay on this subject.

What about anaerobic processes? They are more primitive compared to the aerobic ones, and many living organisms undergo them when there isn’t enough oxygen present. For instance, fermentation is one of the most famous anaerobic reactions. Most of them start in the same way as aerobic cellular respiration, but the main difference is that they stop earlier because there is no oxygen available to finish aerobic reactions, or they choose to join other molecules and use them as final electron acceptors. Fermentation produces only 2 ATP molecules and releases different byproducts, such as alcohol or lactic acid. Finally, you should find out more about lactic acid fermentation, which is the type of anaerobic reaction undergone by people if they have oxygen shortage, while alcoholic fermentation doesn’t take place in their bodies.

Which one is better? For many students, this question is easy to answer because aerobic cellular respiration is more effective when it comes to producing ATP. Without oxygen, such important reactions as the electron transport chain and Krebs cycle get backed up and won’t work, and this is what forces cells to undergo a less effective process called fermentation. By making a simple calculation, you will understand that the difference is huge (36 ATP molecules produced during aerobic reactions against 2 ATP molecules obtained through anaerobic processes).